Kennedy Space Center News Release
October 1, 1998
KSC Contact: George Diller
KSC Release No. 113-98
MARS POLAR LANDER ARRIVES AT KENNEDY SPACE CENTER
NASA's Mars Polar Lander arrived at Kennedy Space Center today to begin
final preparations for launch. The spacecraft arrived aboard an Air Force
C-17 cargo plane which landed at KSC's Shuttle Landing Facility early
this morning following its flight from the Lockheed Martin Astronautics
plant in Denver, CO. The launch of the Mars Polar Lander is targeted to
occur aboard a Boeing Delta II rocket on Jan. 3, 1999. This will be the
second spacecraft to be launched in the pair of Mars '98 missions. The
Mars Climate Orbiter is planned for launch on Dec. 10, 1998.
The solar-powered spacecraft is designed to touch down on the Martian
surface near the northern-most boundary of the south pole. This is near
the edge of Mars' thin, carbon dioxide ice sheet which will have receded
by the time the lander arrives in December 1999, late spring in the
southern hemisphere of Mars. The mission's objective is to study the
water cycle at the Martian south pole. The lander also will help
scientists learn more about climate change and current resources on Mars,
studying such things frosts, dust, water vapor and condensates in the
Martian atmosphere.
The Mars Polar Lander is to be readied for launch in NASA's Spacecraft
Assembly and Encapsulation Facility-2 (SAEF-2) located in the KSC
Industrial Area. Among the activities to be performed will be a
functional test of the science instruments and the basic spacecraft
subsystems. Checkout of the communications system will be performed,
including a verification of the spacecraft's ability to send data to
controllers on Earth via the Mars Climate Orbiter and the tracking
stations of the Deep Space Network. The spacecraft's radar, used during
the final descent, will be installed and the solar arrays will be
attached and tested.
The Deep Space 2 microprobes will also be installed on the lander's
cruise ring. These two probes, developed by NASA's New Millennium Program
will test technology and instruments to search for water several feet
below the Martian surface. The spacecraft will then be ready for mating
with the cruise stage and parachutes used for the trip through the lower
Martian atmosphere will then be installed.
Next, the spacecraft will be fueled with its attitude control fuel and
undergo spin balance testing. Finally, on Dec. 15, the spacecraft will be
mated to a Star 48 solid propellant upper stage booster and then prepared
for transportation to the launch pad.
Meanwhile, at Launch Complex 17, the Delta II rocket will be undergoing
erection and prelaunch checkout on Pad B. The first stage is scheduled to
be installed into the launcher on Nov. 23. Four solid rocket boosters
will be attached around the base of the first stage beginning on Nov. 25.
The second stage will be mated atop the first stage on Dec. 2, and the
fairing will be hoisted into the clean room of the pad's mobile service
tower Dec. 3.
The Mars Polar Lander with its upper stage booster will be transported to
Complex 17 on Dec. 21 for hoisting atop the Delta and mating to the
second stage. After the spacecraft undergoes a state of health check, the
spacecraft will be closed out for flight and on Dec. 29 the two halves of
the Delta nose fairing placed around it. At liftoff, the spacecraft
weighs 1,270 pounds (576 kilograms), is 3.6 feet (106 centimeters) tall,
and 12 feet (360 centimeters) long.
Launch is planned to occur at the opening of an instantaneous launch
window on Jan. 3, 1999 at 3:31 p.m. EST. The nominal launch period is
divided into an eight-day primary period (Jan. 3-10) followed by a
six-day secondary launch period (Jan. 11-16). The planetary window closes
on Jan. 27, 1999.
After an 11-month cruise phase, the Mars Polar Lander will arrive at the
planet and begin its descent to the surface. An imager onboard the
spacecraft will take high resolution photographs during the descent to
the surface to establish the geological and physical context of the
landing site. A robotic arm will be powered up soon after landing to
begin exploring this unknown region with an elaborate, 6.6-foot-long
(2-meter) robotic scoop, which will dig shallow trenches to further
investigate Mars' climatic history.
The lander also will conduct soil analysis experiments on the surface,
using a small "chemistry set" and "oven" to determine the thermal
properties and evolved gasses in frozen water and dust. Martian surface
temperatures, winds, pressure and the amount of dust in the atmosphere
will be measured on a daily basis, while a small microphone records the
sounds of wind gusts or mechanical operations onboard the spacecraft.
The 1998 Mars Climate Orbiter and Mars Polar Lander missions are managed
by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Office of Space Science,
Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of
Technology, Pasadena, CA. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver CO, which
built and operates the spacecraft, is JPL's space industry partner in the
mission. Launch is the responsibility of NASA's John F. Kennedy Space
Center. The Boeing Company is KSC's space industry partner in launch
operations.